Tesco Ditches Its Hudl Smartphone Plans

If ever there was a day to bury your canned smartphone news, this is the one. Despite the great success it enjoyed with its low-cost Hudl tablet, supermarket giant Tesco has today confirmed that it will no longer be pursuing making an Android smartphone of its own.

With Tesco's profits a little shakier than it would like of late, and former CEO Philip Clarke claiming the Hudl phone would be comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S5 at a far cheaper price point, it seems fair to say it may have bitten off a little more than it could chew. With the Moto G 4G joined by the Lumia 635 in the affordable 4G stands of your local phone shop, Tesco's competition has gotten considerably stronger since the handset was initially teased. Instead, Tesco's focus will shift entirely to the forthcoming Hudl 2, where its 500,000-odd selling predecessor acted as the perfect vehicle for the company's Blinkbox movie service. [Marketing Week, Engadget]